My current goals for this page have three stages: (1) to provide transcripts of the dialogue, with scene changes, for each episode; (2) to fill out the transcripts with script-style visual descriptions and character appearances; and (3) to provide commentary for each episode once the first two stages are complete. This is a long-term project which I hope to complete some time in 2004.
Marvel and Sunbow's animation were integral to promoting the Joe line from its very beginnings. There were government restrictions on how much animation could be used to promote a toy, but comic books were protected by the Constitution. So the first Joe cartoons were thirty-second ads for the comics, and footage from these was spliced with toy play to produce commercials for the toys.
Then in 1983, a five-part miniseries was produced and did a great deal to heighten the visibility of the new Joe first sergeant, Duke, who would lead the team in the cartoons. The following year's toys were introduced in a second miniseries, with the regular half-hour cartoon series debuting in fall 1985. The 1986 toys and equipment first showed up in fall 1986, in the shorter second season. (See this page for a comparison of the two seasons.)
An animated theatrical release was also in the works as the second season was being planned. But due to disappointing box office receipts from Transformers: The Movie (summer 1986) and other toy-based animated films, G. I. Joe: The Movie was sent to home video. It is an oft-told story that because of negative fan reaction to Optimus Prime's death in his movie, Duke's fate was altered in the Joe movie; dubbed dialogue indicated that he goes into a coma and recovers at the end of the Movie.
There was going to be a third season of the series, but it and the planned fourth season of Transformers were cancelled for various reasons. When autumn 1987 came, viewers saw a three-part Transformers miniseries titled Rebirth, and the Joe movie was aired as a five-parter. From there, both shows went into reruns. Eventually the networks dropped the shows from their schedule, and G. I. Joe began airing on the cable channel USA, though often heavily cut in the interests of more commercial time. In all, there were one hundred Sunbow episodes, plus five different opening sequences.
Meanwhile, Sunbow continued producing animation for the commercials until 1990, when the DIC company was hired for a new cartoon series. This seres also ran for two seasons but is universally recognized as of lower quality than the Sunbow cartoons. DIC also provided animation for a few 90s-era commercials. It would not be until 2002 that the Cartoon Network would experimentally run the Sunbow series again, by then a treat to two generations of Joe fans.
Fans tend to rate this first miniseries a notch above most of the stand-alone episodes, but not as developed or entertaining as the miniseries that followed. This five-parter introduces the original Joes (minus Grand Slam, Grunt, and Hawk) as a rag-tag bunch of everyman types who just happen to be the best in the world at what they do--a characterization somewhat reminiscent of the Rebels in Star Wars. Many of the Joes have Southern or New York-type accents and treat one another as equals.
In these episodes we see Duke as a likeable action hero who may or may not have a thing for Scarlett, the tough girl with a rarely seen softer side. Breaker is the bumbling technology whiz, Stalker has a witty tongue and a flair for the dramatic, Short-Fuze and Steeler act like a comedy duo pulled off the inner city streets, and Clutch is likewise primarily there for comic relief. Gung-Ho is the swamp-raised muscle man who takes the lead when needed. The other featured Joes--Ace, Snow Job, Torpedo, Tripwire, and Wild Bill--exercise their specialties with enthusiasm but have only a slight amount of military discipline. The rest of the team--Flash, Rock 'n Roll, Zap, Airborne, and Cover Girl--add numbers and a few lines but are not as well fleshed out as the others.
The only serious member of the Joe team is Snake Eyes, whose silence and mystery would've made him popular with the fans even without the comic book's development of his martial arts skills and Vietnam back-story. There is a hint of romance between Scarlett and Snake Eyes in this miniseries that is not seen in later episodes. The commando's wolf Timber is introduced here, but would not be included with the figure until his re-release in 1985.
The main running theme for the Cobra organization is established here: Cobra Commander is a power-mad dictator who lacks the foresight and self-control to get what he wants. Beside him, Destro has the brains and discipline to conquer the world but cannot understand the human love for freedom and their tendency to rebel rather than shrink in the presence of threats. The Baroness (borrowed from the comic) and Major Bludd work primarily for expediency and their own self-interest, and both are masters of disguise. The Cobra troops are mean but stupid and ill-trained, and so Cobra must rely on high-tech gadgets and superweapons even to defend their own base. With this characterization, the cartoon allows us to laugh at evil, and while characters such as Destro are "cool" in a sense, terrorism is in no sense glorified. One almost gets the sense that if the Joes, small in number and despite all odds, can defeat Cobra, then evil is more a thing to be ridiculed than feared.
Only minimal transcripts (dialogue and scene cuts) are available at this point.
Only minimal transcripts (dialogue and scene cuts) are available at this point.
Only minimal transcripts (dialogue and scene cuts) are available at this point.
Of the many positive things that can be said about the Movie, these three stand out in my mind: First, the opening music and animation sequence are the best G. I. Joe (or almost any cartoon) has ever looked. The viewer is flooded with cool images of a battle in the patriotic surroundings of the Statue of Liberty. Rumor has it that the sequence was originally to take place as part of the climax of the film, but I like it here. Second, the Movie gives a glimpse of almost every Joe and Cobra in the series (with the exception of most of the water specialists). Many of these saw little or no time in the second season, and it was a treat to see old favorites like Airborne, Freedom, Short-Fuze, Timber, and Zap, even if only for a few moments, and to hear Quick Kick's voice for the first time in over a year. We even get to see that Grunt, Steeler, and Clutch made their way back from the "Worlds Without End" universe. Third, the theme of redemption comes out clear as crystal with the dual developments of Falcon and Cobra Commander. Their falls, trials, and vindication are paired nicely, and the Movie's structure and pacing in other respects are obvious when one views the film in its entirety.
The new Joes and the new revelations about Cobra receive some of the harshest criticism of the Movie. Falcon takes Joe's informality to a whole new level, only in a bad way. He's cocky, short-tempered, rebellious, and constantly chafing against his half-brother Duke. His shaping up under Sgt. Slaughter barely makes him a sympathetic character by Movie's end. Jinx is a decent warrior woman in the tradition of Vasquez from Aliens, but many fans saw Chuckles, Law, Tunnel Rat, and the cancelled figure Big Lob as annoyingly eccentric. Even as one who enjoyed the Movie, I must admit that, with the exception of Mercer's scenes, the best parts of the Movie were the ones in which the Rawhides were absent.
The writers may be forgiven for Cobra-La. The idea was forced into existence by Hasbro's determination to give Cobra the new leader Serpentor. The writers had objected that Cobra Commander would never voluntarily give up leadership and stick around, and they couldn't kill him. So either he had been commissioned by a never-before-seen underground organization, or else Cobra would have to mutiny and create their own leader. Hasbro urged the writers to combine those two ideas, forcing the creators to scrap an excellent idea for a second-season premiere (to be titled "The Most Dangerous Man in the World") in favor of "Arise, Serpentor, Arise." The rest would be developed in the Movie. As for the name Cobra-La, it was a placeholder name the creators were using until they could think of a suitable one. But Hasbro saw it in the early drafts and insisted that it would be the name used.
Could the creators have come up with a better idea? If they had been granted more independence, yes. Even within their restrictions, it may have been possible to conceive of an underground organization that did not involve biomechanical monstrosities that once roamed the earth. But given that concept, they did a pretty good job of it. Burgess Meredith--whose 1945 movie The Story of G. I. Joe gave the toy line its name--was the perfect voice for Golobulus. He lent the character a sinister air of royalty, ruthlessness, and refinement. Fans to this day celebrate Pythona and Nemesis Enforcer. Only the battle cry and the sci-fi nature of the Movie's revelations grate against more traditional fans.
In the end, I consider this one of the most emotionally involving (entertaining, moving, etc.) Joe stories. It's not quite as compelling as The Traitor, Worlds Without End, or There's No Place Like Springfield, but it remains one of my favorites, and the dialogue is instantly memorable.
For this site, I've divided the Movie into ten evenly timed acts for convenience, and given my own titles to each one.
Return to the Complete Guide to G. I. Joe.
